Peel record on architecture 'questionable'

Liverpool plans a discredited model, says mayor campaigner

PEEL'S Liverpool and Wirral Waters plans represent a discredited global model of property development that died the day Lehman Brothers went bust.

So says Liverpool elected mayor wannabe Liam Fogarty who, in an interview with Architect's Journal, described the Port of Liverpool owner's record at delivering good architecture as “questionable”.

The prospective independent candidate for city mayor went on to express doubts about Peel's ambitious proposals for the North Docks, saying whoever ends up leading Liverpool should be prepared to stand up to the property giants.

“Liverpool Waters – and its sister scheme in Wirral – seem to me to represent a discredited global model of property development that died the day Lehman Brothers went bust,” he told the mag.

“There's a difference between a vision and a fantasy. I believe Peel's vision for their dockland estate has to be sustainable and truly connect with the deprived communities of North Liverpool.”

Liam Fogarty, LeftFogarty also described the Liverpool Waters design, recently criticised by the Government's urban design watchdog CABE, as "just not good enough".

“Peel’s record at delivering good architecture is questionable. What is proposed for Peel Ports’ dock estate in Liverpool is mediocre and soulless. It’s just not good enough for our city. We shouldn’t be afraid to insist on the highest design standards.”

But it wasn't all bad: “Peel have done great things for Liverpool,” he said. “They transformed our airport, and their plans for a SuperPort to handle the new generation of container ships should be a huge boon to the city and city region."

Fogarty, who has not yet officially chucked his £500 deposit into the ring with his hat, added: “I want an honest partnership that will benefit both Peel and our city.

"But I also want to be the Mayor of Liverpool, not LiverPeel.”

No, that would be Sonia's slogan.

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No they aren't. They're waiting thirty years for property prices to go up before unpacking so much as a spade at 'Wirral Waters' and 'Liverpool Waters'. In the meantime dereliction is taking its toll whilst Peel Holdings' bosses laugh all the way to the bank.

AnonymousFebruary 22nd 2012.

I think that's more down to the planning depts rather than Peels owner

Surely an elected mayor for Merseyside (or a Greater Liverpool) would be more appropriate? As per with Greater Manchester too.How come New Labour accorded London it's own elected mayor & Greater London Authority, back in 97/98, but "ignored" the rest of England?? Why did our Northern MPs not demand the same?

I think not long after that they tried to get the geordies to vote for one and it got rejected with a resounding no. they sort of give up on it a bit after that.

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Frank Lloyd WrightFebruary 21st 2012.

Mr. Legarty is quite correct about Peel's architecture. A visit to the depressing 'Media City' in Salford Quays would convince anyone.

(Note also how - with the exception of a chain hotel - all the buildings there are occupied by public bodies paid for by public money - The B.B.C., University of Salford etc. Perhaps that too will be a deserted ghost town when the Tory cuts bite further?)

Yes, you are quite right. I have read secret documents that say the entire BBC is being closed down across the entire world and the government has told Salford Uni that it's not allowed shiny new buildings and must return to it's main campus. Oh and you forgot to mention the private apartments and Booth's store. I hear they are all closing down too. ARE YOU SOME KIND OF LUNATIC?

Frank Lloyd WrightFebruary 25th 2012.

Here Ali - let me help you on with your straitjacket...

Herbert HootFebruary 21st 2012.

Four hours he stood there on Crosby beach trying to get that bloke to sign his original petition.

LOL....THE FOUR TOPS ,LIKE IT . AND THE MERSEY MICROWAVE...(MUSEUM OF LIVERPOOL LIFE)

AnonymousFebruary 22nd 2012.

Sometimes I think everyone would be far happier if progress had stopped after the war, and we could all celebrate the lack of movement while everyone waits for some sort of perfect design that pleases everyone. Not gonna happen is it? Like em or not, I'd rather see what we have now than flattened wasteland and dereliction

If you want "world class architecture" then you're going to have to charge "world class rents" too! The BBC weren't prepared to do that in Salford. So where are all these mega rich tenants willing to commit "Oop North" then? Don't blame Peel.

As 'Media City' is adjacent to Daniel Liebeskind's multi-award-winning Imperial War Museum and the iconic Lowrey you'd have thought that Peel might have pulled its architectural finger out!

Peel is building Netherley next to the Pier Head.

Sepp UkuFebruary 25th 2012.

Anonymous wrote: "So where are all these mega rich tenants willing to commit "Oop North" then?"

Is committing 'Oop North' the same as committing 'Hara Kiri'?

John JayFebruary 24th 2012.

Never mind Peel - it's certainly a great dream and I'd like to see it happen - but hasn't anyone got anything to say about Liverpool's sudden absence from all discussion regarding the proposed HS2 Rail Link with London...? Are you all quite happy that they now point to Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow along the West line route, but leave Liverpool right out of the equation altogether...?? If you want the prestige of tall skyscrapers and an impressive waterfront skyline, don't you think we'd better see to it that our city at least makes an attempt to get in on the act and asserts itself along with places like Leeds and Sheffield - cities that most of us can remember were not even in the ha'penny specs with Liverpool, once upon a time...??? Watch out Liverpool, you're not much loved in other parts of the country...! - and they'd dearly like to bury you if they possibly can...!!!You need a couple of bridges over the Mersey. Why, because you NEED to reclaim your Wirral suburbs which you foolishly let go when allowing them to replace their "L" for Liverpool postcode prefix with "CH" for Cheshire...!!! Don't you realise that without your suburbs you're not half the city you used to be. That's why Leeds has doubled the extent of its boundaries and why Manchester, having refused to call its metro-area "SELNEC" and wisely insisted on "Greater Manchester" instead, has never looked back...!!!

The 'L' postcode denoted that post was sorted in Liverpool. 'CH' doesn't mean Cheshire (despite what dimwitted, tuppence-ha'penny snobs in Wirral say) it means the post is sorted (and frequently stolen) in Chester. How long will it be before the L postcode is changed to WA as our post is now srted in Warrington?

John JayFebruary 24th 2012.

4 MUSTS if I were Mayor of Liverpool:

(1) I'd commission a couple of major, world-class bridges across the Mersey. (2) Immediately grab back those Wirral suburbs and re-incorporate their "L" for Liverpool postcode again...! (3) Campaign to have the whole Merseyside region named "Greater Liverpool"(4) Make sure Liverpool was one of the West Coast's direct High Speed Rail links with London.

Yes, you are right about all that John and you should come and run for mayor.

Unfortunately our leadership comprises a bunch of village idiots who are completely cliqued up with developers. They are in the thrall of these people. They have no dynamism, no vision and no bollocks of their own.

It could be argued that Anderson is worse than the Lib Dems were, but he gets away with it because Liverpudlians have a natural socialist leaning, as people do when they have nothing.

He is only a country mile ahead of the opposition they ousted two years ago, which was down to the fact that his team systematically discredited Bradley's Lib Dems through leaks to the media and through blogs, whinnying about the Standards Board every time hapless Bradley opened his mouth. Miss! Miss, look what Warren said!

It's a shame. Liverpool has got so much about it. But even the arts and culture scene we once had has been homogenised and dulled.

My fear is not that the people will vote for Anderson, which will be bad enough, but for Herbert the hairdresser as mayor, just because of the perverse fun of it.

Only last week Dianne Oxberry, BBC North West's weather woman whilst commenting on the unseasonably warm weather we were having from Salford's Media City said on our television screens what an awful wind tunnel the place was.

The effects that tall, slab-sided buildings have on conditions at ground level have been established for a century or more. It is well known that such buildings (if poorly designed) concentrate winds and create dangerous vortices that can literally lift pedestrians off their feet and cause serious injury.